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Peter Canning looks at the changing future of spinal immobilization at Street Watch: Notes of a Paramedic
“[The emergency services] took a long time trying to see whether they could get the couple out any other way, but that’s the decision they came to,” she said.
A spokesman for the South East Coast Ambulance Service said: “While the pair were sheltering in the car they developed neck pain.
“Paramedics explored every opportunity to get them out of the vehicle. However, in the end they had to get the fire service to cut the roof off and take them out on back boards.
“We can only apologise to Mrs Dunlop for the inconvenience of that.”
He added that no one was seriously injured in the collision.
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- Firefighter Bradley Harper, Phoenix Fire Department dies from injuries after being pinned between fire truck & ambulance. Phoenix police officer died today at same hospital after hit & run. – May 19, 2013
- Paramedic shortage in Nation’s Capital. TV station reports medics leaving DC at high rate due to overwork & stress. – November 5, 2012
Comments
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Understanding that English law is totally screwed up, let me get this straight:
The patients were ambulatory, but they had to cut the roof to get them out of an undamaged vehicle? Do they not have KEDs in England?
I don’t get it.
I can only imagine the corrective action received an resulting law suit here in the U.S., an yes what they did was absurd….
Really?! Just for neck pain?! If they walked over to the car to get in it, they can get out of the vehicle and walk to the ambulance.
Were they too fat for a KED? WTF?? Sounds like the Fire Department is buying a new car.
big question, WHY DID THEY GET INTO THE CAR IN THE FIRST PLACE??? I realize she was “sheltering” them but from what? and why put them in the car, she could have been rear-ended and caused more physical injuries to these people.
Sheltering from weather be it rain or the cold.
No good deed, goes unpunished.
One would hope that the fire and medical services would speak to the insurance company to try to get them to honor the lady’s insurance. I mean, insurance SHOULD be there to cover us when unavoidable things happen! This was just plain weird, but insurance should cover the weird things.
KED board rotate and slide them onto a board directly onto the cot?
KED board, C – collar, rotate, and slide them onto a board directly onto the cot?
They should have used a C collar, short board, and shid them out on a long board. A buildaboard were have been the best way.
Idiots
Seems a kind dealer has replaced her car, one of the victims had pre-existing heart & spinal conditions, and “paramedics spent two hours trying to remove the man and the woman, who could no longer move due to neck pains.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/vauxhall/9796497/Good-Samaritan-Janice-Dunlop-given-replacement-car-by-Vauxhall.html
http://www.worthingherald.co.uk/news/good-deed-is-repaid-for-kind-samaritan-whose-car-was-destroyed-1-4690863
Now and then we see an event that gives us hope for humanity…this is one of them. God bless Vauxhall for doing this for her!
The problem is the mentality that all neck and back pains need to be placed on a backboard. there is no evidence that a backboard prevents spinal injury. the only evidence is that the process of placing people on a hard surface makes them worse. However, everyone seems to fear litigation or change and we end up making most of our patients, especially the elderly worse. Just like the fire service, EMS needs to stop doing things that we have always done, especially if they don’t work or there are better alternatives.
“The National Association of EMS Physicians believes that:
There is no demonstrated outcome benefit of maintaining rigid spinal immobilization with a long backboard during EMS transport of a trauma patient.
The long backboard can induce respiratory compromise, patient agitation and additional pain. Further, the backboard can decrease tissue perfusion at pressure points, leading to the development of pressure sores.
A long backboard or similar device may be useful to facilitate spinal precautions during patient extrication.
Patient time on long backboards should be minimized.
Securing a trauma patient to an EMS stretcher without a long backboard whether or not a cervical collar is being used is acceptable for maintaining spinal precaution during transport.
Implementation of protocols that deemphasize the use of the long backboard should involve all affected partners in the EMS system”
Well, at least there was some sort of incident involved. Better than the legendary case of a fire department accidentally cutting the wrong car during drill…
Without knowing the weather conditions at the time, we can’t fault the good samaritan for sheltering the victims. We can fault the EMS and fire folks for not wondering how said victims ended up in a vehicle not involved in the collision, though.
OMG, Hope things work out for the lady and get a new car out of this. Bull s_ _ _ call on FD to remove the roof. Some heads should roll on this.
Are KED’s Used in the UK – YES as are TED’s also lng boards and orthopaedic stretchers as well as some vacume matresses etc etc.
There is also a procedure for examinine and excluding the requirement to apply a cervical collar, KED and long board Immobilisation.
If Immobilisation is indicated, then if the casualty is not time critical, then application of a Cervical Collar, KED and then extracation onto a Long Board is indicated.
There would have been at least 2 ambulance crews at this incident, so it was obviously a consensus of opinion that this was the only way foreward.
The press hav obviously jumped on this in the same way that they criticised an ambulance crew many years ago for not using a defibrillator on a patient who was still in a swimming pool.
We must remember that the press are there to sell news papers and will place any yarns in any story they wish to sensationalise.
Unless any of us were there, we can only wondr what happened and think would we or would we not have done this even as a last resourt.
Also remember some people are the best actors on the plannet when it coms to a claim.
Sorry My E on the key board is sticking
It’s strikingly interesting to me that many of you advocate the position that we should not risk a live for property. Well, seems to me that this is the logical conclusion of that philosophy when it comes to vehicle collisions. There was a remote chance these patients were seriously injured. Well, if that’s the case, no property should stand in our way!
If you buy into the “everybody goes home” and “risk a lot, to save a lot . . .” then this seems to be a no brainer. Just wish some of you folks would be consistent.
Statter, I appreciate you putting this in here. Everytime I read something like this, I realize I am not as stupid as I think I am.
You and me both.
Focus was on the extrication tools/toys, not the patients needs. Have toys, will cut.
Update and more details of the call
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/car-manufacturers/vauxhall/9796497/Good-Samaritan-Janice-Dunlop-given-replacement-car-by-Vauxhall.html
LOL I just caught this!
This, my friends, is why you don’t stop and help at car wrecks.
“No. 1 Statter Fan from Virginia says
Statter, I appreciate you putting this in here. Everytime I read something like this, I realize I am not as stupid as I think I am.
on January 18, 2013 @ 9:21 pm. Reply
dave statter says
You and me both.”
PRICELESS! I now have a smile permantly attached to my face.